Why consequences should not factor in FIA stewards' decisions

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Why consequences should not factor in FIA stewards' decisions

Verstappen has escaped sanctions despite appearing to force Hamilton off the track in Brazil

Sam Hall

Saturday 20 November 2021 08:50

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has claimed that factoring in the consequence of an incident in F1 gives the FIA stewards an "impossible" task.

The consistency of stewards' decisions this season has been questioned on numerous occasions.

On a weekly basis, FIA race director Michael Masi reiterates to the media that 'each incident is judged on its own merits', but the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in Brazil has caused confusion as to what now is and is not permissible on the race track.

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In Austria, where gravel lined the Red Bull Ring, Lando Norris was one of a number of drivers stung for forcing another driver off the track in a manner seemingly less egregious than Verstappen's latest offering.

Asked if he felt Verstappen would have been punished had there been gravel at turn four in Brazil, Seidl explained: "I think if you go into this consequences thing, it is an impossible task.

"You might end up forcing people to show it as a consequence and artificial things…you have to go into the gravel just to make sure a penalty gets applied.

“For me, you have to look at the incident that happens on [the] track.”

Describing Norris' penalty in Austria as "incomparable" to the incident in Brazil, Seidl conceded: "It is different to getting pushed off and that is why we were wondering at the time why we got the penalty.

"That is why we are wondering why things like we saw last weekend don’t get analysed."

GPFans' Verdict

Speaking on the GPFans Stewards' Room Podcast, F1 writer Ewan Gale gave his thoughts on why consequences should not factor into the stewards' decision-making process.

You can listen to the podcast in full here!

"We're talking about the five-second penalties that Lando Norris and Sergio Perez had in Austria for, really, pushing people slightly beyond the white line.

"We said at the time, is this going to be because there was gravel there and if there was runoff there would they have given it. Clearly, they wouldn't have given a penalty and that's not right.

"The track limit is the track limit whether there is gravel, grass, a wall or water there. It doesn't matter. The track limit is the track limit."